


Love Light Gleams

by Spacecadet72



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5468840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacecadet72/pseuds/Spacecadet72
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jo helps Henry and Abe decorate their Christmas tree. Post series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Light Gleams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sprl1199](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sprl1199/gifts).



> My prompt was pretty open, but fluff was mentioned, so hopefully you enjoy! I had a good time writing it. For all the intense and heavy stuff in this show, it really is happy and light at it's core, which I tried to get across here. 
> 
> Title is from I'll Be Home For Christmas.

_“I’ll be home for Christmas, you can plan on me…”_

Jo pulled a red bulb ornament out of the box, careful not to drop it as she moved over to the tree and placed it on a branch while Frank Sinatra crooned in the background. 

Henry and Abe had invited Jo over to help them decorate their Christmas tree and she had accepted without any hesitation. She only had a small, fake tree at her apartment, the kind with fiber optic lights, so all you had to do was put on a few ornaments. She was spending the day at her sister’s house, and didn’t see the need for a large tree when it was just her. She was spending a majority of her free time at Henry and Abe’s apartment lately, so she probably would have been here for this, even without the formal invitation. 

She snuck a glance over at Henry, who was pulling silver garland out of the box of ornaments. It had been months since she had found the photo of him and Abigail and Abe, and between working cases and learning more about his secret and his past, there had never been a good time to revisit her confession after her cancelled trip to Paris. 

In all honesty, even if there had been time, Jo wasn’t sure how to proceed in this situation. It was one thing to admit you had feelings for your coworker, but when it turned out your coworker was immortal--well, she didn’t think there was a Cosmo article about that. 

“These ornaments are beautiful, Henry,” Jo said as she placed a sparkling blue snowflake on the tree. 

“Thank you,” he said with a smile as he wound the garland over the tree, his focus on getting it to lay just right. “They’ve been around a long time. Not as long as I have,” he added as an afterthought, a little smile tugging at his lips that he could come right out and say such a thing, “and it’s comforting to see them every Christmas.” 

“How long have you had them?” Jo asked as she continued to move ornaments from the box to the tree. 

Henry paused for a moment to think. “1947, I believe. Abigail and I picked them out a few Christmases after we had moved to New York.” 

He smiled softly as if remembering. 

“We would buy those packs of ornaments, so that our tree matched. My mother-in-law was very particular,” Jo said, with a roll of her eyes. “Sean always managed to sneak in one or two ornaments that didn’t match at all. He would put them at the very front of the tree. His favorite was a glass Superman logo ornament.”

Henry smiled at the image. “I take it your mother-in-law was not impressed?”

Jo shook her head. 

“Not at all,” she said with a laugh. “She would always frown at it, whenever she came to visit during the holidays.”

Sean had loved Christmas. He had always insisted they decorate the house as soon as Thanksgiving was over. Jo wouldn’t have minded if they waited until just before Christmas, but it was easy to get in the spirit with the way Sean would smile at their finished tree. 

“Cookies are ready,” Abe called, bringing her out of the memory, as he walked into the living room from the kitchen with a plate of shortbread cookies in his hand. 

Jo took a cookie from the proffered plate, and made a happy little sound once she had taken a bite. 

“Abe, these are delicious.”

“Thank you,” Abe said smiling. “They were mom’s recipe and it’s become a Christmas tradition.” 

He set the plate down on the coffee table, and moved over to the box of ornaments. 

He picked a green bulb ornament out and walked over to the tree. He placed it on a branch before taking a step back and glancing at Henry who was bent over, fiddling with the garland on the bottom branches. 

“I think the garland’s good, Henry,” he said with a large grin. 

Henry looked up, but stayed half crouched. 

“I just want to make sure it looks good, Abe, you don’t need to rush me,” his expression and tone were good naturedly firm and Jo could see the fatherly love behind them. 

“Whatever, dad,” Abe said, his grin widening before he picked up another ornament. 

Jo smiled at the exchange and grabbed another cookie before moving back to the ornament box. It was almost empty, only the star tree topper left. The star was gold filigree, delicate and beautiful. She pulled the topper out of the box, and brought it over to the tree. Looking up at the top of the tree above all of their heads, she handed the star to Henry.

Henry smiled, but gave a small shake of his head. “Would you do the honors, Jo?”

She nodded before standing on the step stool by the tree and placing the star on top. She paused a moment to admire their handiwork before stepping down. The star sat proudly at the top of the tree, and Jo smiled widely at the sight. 

“Now the lights?” she asked, that feeling of Christmas excitement rising in her. 

This was always her favorite part. The tree was pretty with the lights off, but it wasn’t magical until they were on and the lights in the room were dimmed. 

Abe hit the living room lights, while Henry moved to plug in the tree. 

The tree lit up, and it was just as Jo imagined. She hadn’t been feeling Christmas lately, hadn’t understood how time had moved so quickly, but standing here in silence as they all looked at the tree, it felt right. 

“I hope you’ll stay for dinner,” Henry said, his voice hushed as they stared at the tree. 

Jo turned to look at him. He kept his gaze on the tree, but she knew he could see her looking at him out of the corner of his eye. She turned back to look at the tree, with the ornaments Abigail picked out, the ones that had reminded her of Sean. She didn’t know if she was ready for that yet, but she knew she wasn’t going anywhere while they figured it out. 

“I would love to.” 


End file.
